"Do you have any pamphlets for kidnap victims?" Will Schuster asked Emma Pillsbury over the circular dining tables in the lounge.

"Not right now...I tried to find some, but none fit his needs." Emma admitted. "Yesterday he just sat in my office and kind of just...well...sat there. Empty."

"I know. He doesn't even want to come and watch regionals because he doesn't want to see the Warbler uniforms. Then he ran out. We are going to lose regionals, by the way. Kurt's thing is getting them all down."

"Why didn't he want to see the uniforms?" Beiste joined the table and started chewing on her turducky. "Is he just that sensitive to that Smythe kid?" she asked in a muffled voice.

"Actually, I read in the paper that when they found him in the car, he had on the Dalton blazer," said Emma regretfully. "Poor, poor kid."

"Do you think they'll find him?" Beiste wondered aloud.

"Come on, Coach," sighed Will. "He's just a kid."

"A kid who was powerful enough to turn Kurt from this vibrant ball of pep to...a...something that has no pep." Beiste finished lamely.

Jeff was still pretty nervous about housing Sebastian. He knew that the police were still searching for him, and sooner or later, they'd find him.

Plus, Jeff wasn't sure if he could trust Nick not to spill the beans. So the lack of his lover was pretty depressing. Sebastian had made him deliver the pizza, and because of that, he'd missed his date with Nick.

You know what else is depressing? Jeff grabbed a paddle ball set and furiously bounced the rubber ball.

Hearing Sebastian go on and on about Kurt Hummel. About his stupid plans and his idiot scripts. I am SO TIRED of hearing about Kurt's dumb soprano voice, his hair, his clothes, his face, his attitude, and everything else.

"Hey Jeff!" Speak of the devil.

"What?" he called backtiredly. "Did you run out of Junior Mints again?"

"Yeah! Well, that too – just come on!" Sebastian yelled from Jeff's bedroom. Or what used to be Jeff's bedroom until Sebastian had claimed it for himself. Jeff had slept on the couch ever since.

"What is it?" Jeff walked into the trashed room. "Did you make another disturbing script? Maybe this time you have Kurt in a flaming egg, then you're dumping him in a tsunami?"

"Actually, that's a pretty good idea." Sebastian cocked his head thoughtfully. "But no. I summoned you here to ask you if you think the Warblers are ready to know my secret. Because even though your house is pretty cool, I'm really bored."

Jeff rolled his eyes.

"Do you remember what happened to Trent?" Sebastian shook his finger.

"Are you threatening me?" Jeff asked angrily.

"Just – oh – never mind! Flaming egg. Tsunami. Maybe I can work with that."

He turned back to a notebook, Jeff already far from his mind. Disgusted, Jeff went back downstairs to play another round of Skyrim.

For a brief moment, he considered ratting Sebastian out. At least he'd get his room back. And more time with Jeff.

But then he remembered that Sebastian was one of his best friends. And friends don't rat each other out to the popo.

Jeff sighed. At least he was getting to do the solo at regionals.

Time dragged by. Very slowly for everyone. Eventually, Kurt had begun to fade into the background. He was no longer the Kidnapped Kid. He was the Angsty Kid who never smiled and never ate and never sang.

The New Directions lost regionals to the Warblers, unfortunately for everybody. Including Sebastian, who was angry that he hadn't been there. McKinley had screwed up their senior year, and they wouldn't be attending Nationals.

More time passed without any signs of Sebastian or anything connected with him, and slowly, Kurt walked the road to recovery. It was a long and difficult road, however.

Darla's way of curing the vivid flashbacks was discussing them in excruciating detail. Most days either ended with Kurt storming out in tears or Darla running out of tissues.

So now here he was at the Lima Bean. Thanks to his batty therapist.

Darla is a cruel, cruel woman, Kurt thought sourly as he watched Blaine order his usual medium drip. Making me come here. She knows that he is always here. But she had assured him that while the police combed Ohio, he would not be dumb enough to hang at the Bean.

A grumpy man sitting at the table behind him grunted, "Shut up..." and Kurt realized that he must have been saying some of that out loud. The Saturday afternoon usually drew the most hostile crowd to the Bean.

"Are you sure you don't want anything?" Blaine joined Kurt at the booth with a medium drip and a nonfat mocha. He set the mocha in front of Kurt. "On me."

"No, I'm fine." said Kurt wearily. "Thank you. I just feel so awful being here. Like he'll pop out of your coffee cup or something. Because every time I come here, there he is."

Blaine gave a forced chortle, trying to keep the conversation light-hearted. "Just don't think about him, Kurt. Put it out of your mind."

"I can't just put it out of my mind, Blaine!" said Kurt a tad loudly. "I'm ruined!"

"Hey," Blaine said, and a touch of exasperation entering his voice. "I wish you'd – " he threw his hands in the air. "I guess I wish you'd just – be you again. I'm – we're – we're done with Sebastian, Kurt! It's been almost a month! Forget about him, okay? It's like he still has your soul locked away in there." he prodded at Kurt's chest.

Then he balled his hand into a fist. "I'm sorry." he said through his teeth.

"No, I'm sorry." Kurt sighed, biting his lip. "It's just – Sebastian is fond of mind games. Like the pizza thing." He cringed.

"Stop thinking about him!" Blaine groaned with vexation. He felt his temper rise and desperately tried to control it. "Just stop!" His voice rose. "FORGET ABOUT IT!"

"Blaine!" Kurt cried, as everybody else in the store went dead silent. He lowered his voice. "Blaine, I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'm trying my best, please don't give up on me!" he finished hysterically.

"Aw." Blaine sat back down and slipped his hand into Kurt's. "No, Kurt. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten mad at you. It wasn't your fault." He gave a tentative grin.

Kurt forced a smile and shrugged, pulling his fingers away from Blaine. "It's fine, Blaine...let's just move on."

Blaine lifted his mouth to his coffee cup and grimaced. "I think the barista ripped me off. This thing is like, empty. Can you pass me the sugar?"

Kurt pushed the metal dispenser across the table, and Blaine unscrewed the lid of his coffee.

A high-pitched yelp escaped Blaine's lips, drawing everybody's attention.

"What? What is it?" Kurt cried, but his question was answered as a fuzzy tarantula scurried out of the paper cup, dripping with brown. It crawled onto the table, down to the floor, and scuttled frantically around the restaurant.

People screamed and jumped on to their own tables. Coffee and cookies flew in all directions.

Only Kurt remained still. His mind went back to Sebastian's bedroom, and that awful arachnid in the tank.

"Kurt!" Blaine yelled at him over the din. "Don't go crazy now!" He grabbed him by the shoulders.

"I won't," Kurt clenched his fists, knuckles white. "I swear." He tried to hang on to sanity, and clung to the very edge of it.

"I CAUGHT THE SPiDER!" some random middle-aged lady screamed, waving her hand furiously. "I CAUGHT IT IN MY FIST!"

"EW!" The rest of the cafe squealed.

A teenager in a turban and sunglasses who obviously held some form of authority stomped huffily out of the back room. "Who brought this thing in here? Who dares?" his head swiveled around the room, his fake-sounding accent gruff and slightly comical.

"It was him!" a man jabbed his finger at Blaine. "He pulled that spider out of his cup! Like magic!"

"I – what?" Blaine asked confusedly.

"Well then. May I have a word?" the boy demanded.

"Uh. Sure." Blaine looked apologetically at Kurt, then stood up. Kurt followed him into the back room, which was empty except for the steaming coffee machines.

"You can keep the spider!" called the angry Lima Bean worker to the woman who'd caught the arachnid.

The boy shut the door and his mouth hardened. Kurt assumed that he was glaring behind the shades.

"Names?"

"I'm Blaine – and this is Kurt," said Blaine nervously. Kurt was starting to get that crumpled face again. He had to get them out of this before he went crazy again. "Look, sir, I didn't know why that tarantula was in my cup. You served it. It was just in there – "

"Let me be frank," he snapped in a decisively American accent. "I'm sorry. But it has to happen. I don't want to do this."

Blaine sensed it a second before it happened. Suddenly absorbed the tiny details. The door had been locked behind them. The turban obscuring the eyes. The defensive stance. The spider.

It was a setup. He should have recognized the boy.

He was a Warbler.

Blaine threw himself on top of Kurt as the boy raised a gun-like object above his head. Shielded Kurt's body as another boy jumped out from behind a suitcase in the corner.

And whispered, "I love you, Kurt." before a drugged dart pierced his back. The needle shot through his coat, sending a powerful knockout drug into his body.

Blaine felt it, and opened his mouth to scream for help. His eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he flopped over, out cold.

Kurt heard him, but even Blaine's love couldn't stop the stinging blow of a crowbar that another boy had raised. Blaine's hands seemed fade from his, and panic rushed through his veins as the light dwindled away.

"Iloveyoutoo." he slurred before he passed out.

The boy who had called him into the back room tore off his shades. "I did not enjoy that."

"Warblers have honor. Or, at least, they did." said the boy who'd struck Kurt. He glanced down at the bodies on the floor. "Is it true love, Nick?" he asked, noting the way Kurt's head rested on Blaine's chest.

"It sure is, Jeff." replied the other. "It sure is."

They grabbed Kurt and stuffed him into a large suitcase. When he had been zipped inside, Jeff took the dart out of Blaine and pushed him into the cabinet under the sink. He wouldn't wake for at least an hour. He lay sprawled in the dark, supplies being crushed under him.

"Are you ready?" asked Nick, slipping out of his disguise and into his usual blazer.

Jeff did the same. "Ready."

And they left the Lima Bean, Jeff wheeling the suitcase. Nobody looked up. Nobody suspected anything.

The boys drove away.

A/N: Oh no! I skipped an update day! Sorrrrry! :(

Also, thank you B1isbetterthanB2 for being the reviewer of the week. (update, chapter, whatever!)

And to TheBoyWhoLivedIsDead: Tell your friends hi!

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